


Bad Metaphor, Good Moment

by sallyamongpoison



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Dogmeat likes Danse better, M/M, Playing with Dogmeat, playful banter
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-24
Updated: 2016-01-24
Packaged: 2018-05-15 21:56:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5801701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sallyamongpoison/pseuds/sallyamongpoison
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Holden is trying to teach Dogmeat some new tricks and gets a lecture on why he won't listen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bad Metaphor, Good Moment

“Sit!”

A bark.

“Dogmeat, sit!”

Another bark.

Holden sighed. Dogmeat really was too smart for his own good. He knew Holden had a few scraps of squirrel meat behind his back as a treat and wasn’t about to do anything until he got it. Somehow that made Holden like him more. He wasn’t completely domesticated, but he listened and was useful to have when they were out traveling. That said, Holden would have liked him to sit on command.

“Sit!”

The dog looked up at him, head cocked to the side, then sniffed once. He dropped himself to a sitting position and barked again before getting back up immediately to start nosing at Holden’s hands. That would do, at least for now. Holden laughed, opened his hands for Dogmeat to very carefully take the meat from his fingers, and ruffled his ears after his palms had been licked clean.

“Clever boy,” he chuckled as he mussed those soft ears, “too clever.”

A hand pressed to the back of Holden’s neck. It was large and warm, and he looked up to see Danse studying him. Holden had been squatting on the ground to play with the dog, and now Danse was standing beside him so their shadows bled together. Before them both, Dogmeat yapped again and got up on his hind legs in order to playfully snap at Danse. The hand resting on Holden’s neck squeezed once, an affectionate cuff, before it let go to ruffle Dogmeat’s collar.

“Uh uh, down,” Danse instructed in his low, deep voice. Dogmeat yapped again, though he listened and sat in the way Holden had been trying to get him to do for at least half an hour. 

Holden sighed again and shook his head as he got to his feet, “I see how it is,” he deadpanned at them both, “you like him better, don’t you?”

Dogmeat whined, ears twitching, and got back up to nose and lick at first Holden’s hands and then Danse’s. Two hands, one of Holden’s and one of Danse’s patted soft fur. “You’re too easy on him,” Danse offered softly, “he sees you like a brother, not the alpha.”

“I’m not an alpha anything,” Holden pointed out as he stepped a bit more into Danse’s space and looped his unoccupied arm around the larger man’s waist. There was something about seeing the Paladin out of his armor and in just jeans and a shirt that was so nice. At Starlight, at  _ home _ , he smelled like a mixture of soap and polishing oil and machine parts. Holden loved that. He loved to just lean in and take it in until it eased any lingering anxiety he had.

“And yet everyone seems to listen to you. Except the dog.”

Holden chuckled as he rested himself against Danse’s chest. Dogmeat was still rubbing against their legs, pressing them together, and Holden buried his face in Danse’s collar, “That’s a pretty good metaphor for all this, don’t you think?” he asked.

“No, it’s really not.”

**Author's Note:**

> Come find me on tumblr! @sallyamongpoison


End file.
